1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the treatment of waste material and, more particularly, to the controlled thermal destruction of hazardous and non-hazardous materials.
2. Background
Waste material may be in solid, semi-solid, or liquid form, and may include organic and/or inorganic material. Some solid waste materials have been disposed in landfills. However, public opposition and regulatory pressures may restrict some landfill practice. Other solid and some liquid waste materials have been disposed of through combustion and/or incineration. These processes may produce substantial amounts of fly ash (a toxic constituent) and/or bottom ash, both of which by-products require further treatment. Additionally, some combustion and/or incineration systems suffer from the inability to maintain sufficiently high temperatures throughout the waste treatment process. In some systems, the lower temperature may result from the heterogeneity of the waste materials. In other systems, the reduced temperature may result from the varying amount of combustible and non-combustible material and/or moisture within an incinerator. As a result of the lower temperatures, and other factors such as the need for excess air and supplementary fossil fuels to maintain proper combustion, these incineration systems may generate hazardous materials which may be released into the atmosphere.